Today, I came across something by a fellow PT blogger that was directly relevant to the question I've been reflecting on for the past couple of days. In his post,
Believe or Go to Hell - Does This Message Work?, Nathan Heflick raises a very interesting question about the potential connections between
fear, self-interest, and belief in the
supernatural. As I read the post, I had one of those experiences where the same question comes up in different contexts in my life.
Yesterday, I was reading a selection from John Chrysostom (349-407 AD) in the book Devotional Classics (yes, I'm the kind of person, for better or worse, who likes to read philosophy and spiritual thought from long-dead individuals). The selection includes some meditation on the significance of the parable of the prodigal son as recounted in Luke 15:11-32. One of the reflection questions was this: In what ways have you journeyed away from God in the past? What made you want to come home? I was reminded of a time in college when I had journeyed away from God, but as I thought about what made me want to come home, two things came to mind.
First, I sensed an existential need for God in my life. For me, following Christ works. That doesn't mean it is easy, or that life goes as I want it to, but it does mean that as I seek to live the way I think he would if he were in my shoes, I flourish as a human being. The second thing that came to mind as I thought about this is that I believe it is true. I believe that God exists, and in what C.S. Lewis called "mere Christianity". I have questions, to be sure. I grapple at times with the problem of evil, that is, why God allows so much evil and suffering in our world. I think there are satisfactory, if not fully satisfying, answers to this problem.
In Heflick's post, he points out that it may be the case that the threat of Hell, coupled with the promise of Heaven, is behind at least some people's belief in the supernatural. I think there is something to this. However, this has to do with the motivations people have to believe, rather than the evidence that could be produced to justify such belief. While I don't think Heflick makes the mistake of confusing these two concepts, many contemporary religious and atheistic thinkers do.
In my own case, I am partly motivated to believe that God exists and seek to live life as a follower of Christ because it works. I honestly believe that I flourish, my family flourishes, and I have a part in helping my community flourish as I seek to live out my faith in daily life. But there are many ways of life that work for individuals to one degree or another. I am also motivated to believe because I think that good reasons for such belief are available. The upshot is that while the possibilities concerning the afterlife can motivate people to believe in God, we should also consider what reasons can be given for and against the truth of such belief. From my own experience, when difficulties come, it is not enough to say "Belief works for me." Rather, I want all of my beliefs, including those about the supernatural, to be true. That, at least, is what I seek.
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